Challenges of modernity to Islam in 20th Century; an appraisal of South Asian Muslim reformists/ responses

Abstract

Modernity and all its essentials have been activating Muslim intellectuals to respond to these new situations since 19th century. In return, Muslims addressed these challenges with diverse solutions or alternatives. Among these responses, efforts of interpreting these new situations to examine in the light of Quran and Sunnah and maximizing their benefits to Muslims’ need is highly encouraged such as Jamal-ud-din Afghani and Allama Muhammad Iqbal did. Across the Muslim world, one can find different approaches to modernity but most of them agreed to align new theories with principles of Quran and Sunnah. Their revivalist approaches can be criticized and assessed with arguments. Thus this process of acceptance, rejection and synthesis will help Muslim world to address the challenges of modern era in more appropriate way. This study is aimed to explore the works of Muslim scholars in modernizing Islamic thoughts in 20th century. For this purpose, researcher selected two Muslim Scholars from the Modern era; Dr. Fazlur Rehman and Mawlana Wahiduddin Khan. They, originally, belonged to South Asia but their perspectives have influenced Muslims from Asia to Europe and thus this study will unfold more dimensions to discuss their solutions according to their own situations and circumstances.